Came Back For You
by MarineroLelouch
Summary: An alternative to the original story. Eddard Stark and Arthur Dayne chose not to fight and Ned agreed to tell Jon his parentage when he comes of age. Jon goes to Essos to find Dayne. Everything else remains the same. Jon learns years later that almost all his family is dead and Sansa was forced to marry Ramsay. He comes back to Westeros to save her. Jonsa is main pairing...
1. Chapter 1

"Run, Sansa!" Theon yelled. The hounds were getting closer. Sansa was running as fast as she could but the long winter dress she had been wearing was weighing her down. The shoes she had on were not made for running in the snow either.

"RUUN!" Theon yelled just as one of the hounds jumped up and sinked it's teeth into Sansa's neck.

"HAAA!" Sansa gasped and woke up from her nightmare in terror. She had clenched her feet so hard that all her toes were numb locked together. She immediately looked for Theon, her broken guardian and probably her only friend in the world.

"What's wrong Sansa?" Theon rushed to her and immediately picked up on her state of panic.

Sansa just hugged him for comfort and Theon understood.

Later that night, Brienne came back, with two squirrels she managed to catch. There wasn't a lot of game to be found in the north during a cold night. Podrick started a big fire and the four of them positioned themselves near it.

Some time passed and no one said anything. Everyone was thinking the same thing but no one said a thing. That one question that had been lingering in their minds.

Finally, it was Brienne who broke the silence.

"Lady Sansa…" She gently turned to Sansa who turned her gaze to her.

"Where do you think we should go?" Brienne asked.

Sansa couldn't muster an answer. She tried to say something but nothing came to her mind

"Where do you think you'd be safe?" Brienne asked the real question this time.

"**Nowhere."** Sansa thought with a heavy heart. Her family was gone. Her father had lost his head in King's Landing. Her brother was murdered alongside her mother in a wedding, by her husbands family… Her other siblings were all probably dead as well. Brienne had seen Arya with the Hound sometime ago but she ran away from her.

According to Theon, Bran and Rickon were not dead. The news had made Sansa happy initially but then she thought **"Just not killed by you."** in agony. "**Doesn't mean they're alive."** She would never have blind hope like this…Never again. Not after what she had seen. Not after what she had been through.

And Jon…She had no idea where he was, or what had happened to him. When his father was named the Hand of the King, Jon had travelled with their party until they reached the Kingsroad. Sansa was told he was going to take the black by Septa Mordane but then she saw him riding towards east.

Her father said that he changed his mind and that he would travel before he made up his mind. Sansa was a little girl and didn't care much for Jon so she never thought to ask "**Make up his mind about what?**

Sansa often found herself thinking about Jon…Especially after she returned to Winterfell. She found herself wondering about where he is…What he is doing. And then she would get mad…because she would feel like he abandoned them…abandoned his family. Abandon…her. But then she'd let go of it because she figures…he's probably dead. Just like…everyone else.

"What about the Eyrie?" Podrick asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes. Isn't your cousin Lord of the Vale?" Brienne asked.

"He is but not really. Littlefinger actually runs the place. Robin is like his puppet." Sansa replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"He's the one who sold you to the Bolton's." Theon said what was on Sansa's mind.

"Yes…He did." Sansa said, with self-pity and resentment dripping from her voice.

Just then, an echo was heard from afar. Brienne was quick to realize and almost immediately drew his sword. Podrick and Theon followed suit. Three of them made a circle around Sansa and they started to wait.

The echo slowly turned to a voice and the voice slowly came closer. **"A horse"** Sansa realized in terror.

As the source of the sound draw nearer Sansa realized, much to her horror, that it was more than just 1 or 2 horses. Their fire wasn't strong enough to cover a large area so they waited in fear until the silhouette's became visible to them.

Almost a dozen men. Sansa childishly hoped for a second that they were random people but soon saw her hopes were in vain. The flayed man was apparent in their armor.

"**So this is as far as I go?" **Sansa thought..A bittersweet thought. A part of her was tired. A part of her wanted out. Surviving only to be mistreated and betrayed…and then surviving yet again for the same thing to happen. Her heart could only be broken so many times.

Two of the men got off their horses and drew closer. They were careful of Brienne the most. The circle they had made with their horses gave no chance for an escape.

"Podrick and I will make a breach." Brienne whispered .

"You two, run as fast as you can. Run towards west. The forest is thicker there. "

One of the man was close enough to be seen entirely by the flame's light.

"Lady Sansa…" He bowed…but it was mockery.

"Ramsay has missed you. " The man whispered and soon, 3 others showed themselves behind him. Brienne took two steps towards them and went into a battle stance.

Sansa closed her eyes as the impending battle was just about to begin. She heard a "whoosh" sound and something impale someone. She got on her knees in fear and just wanted it to be over. The clash of steel and the sound of screams and grunts echoed through the air.

It was only when Sansa heard one of the Bolton men yell " Who the fuck-?!" that she decided to open her eyes. The man who yelled was cut down almost immediately. Almost all the Bolton men were dead and two hooded man stood between them and the remaining Bolton soldiers. The two remaining decided to attack the hooded men at the same time. Much to her surprise, the short hooded men leapt in between them and managed to slide-and slash between the two. He managed to cut them down before they got the chance come closer. Sansa had never seen such ferocious swordplay. Not even in King's Landing.

Sansa realized both in shock and in joy that none of her companions had died nor even suffer a wound. These two hooded men had saved them.

She remembered a lady's courtesy and bowed slightly towards the men .

"T-Thank you, sir's. You saved our lives." She politely and gratefully acknowledged their actions.

The shorter one took three steps in succession, spooking both Sansa and Brienne who threw herself between them.

The man removed his hood. Sansa froze as if the world had stopped.

It was Jon. He was very different. But it was Jon.

"Hello Sansa." Jon smiled. Sad and happy at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: DIRE NEWS

* * *

_**VOLANTIS /4 MONTHS AGO**_

"Get out of here you scum." yelled the fat man. He wore his disdain on his expression.

"Can't… even… do.. a simple task proper." The fat man complained. One syllable at a time. One slap for each word he muttered.

Worried that he wasn't doing enough damage, he raised his feet and kicked down the skinny slave with dark skin as if stomping on her. His last kick landed somewhere near the lungs and the girl coughed and spat in response. The younger male slave accompanying her threw himself between them and raised his hands towards the fat man, pleading him to stop.

"You dare?!" The fat man yelled and slapped the male slave out of the way and into the dirt. His meaty and slobby appearance managed to mask the brutish strength this man had but the slave had felt it firsthand.

"Master,please…" The slave girl begged. She hadn't begged for herself but she begged for him.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Each of their actions spurred the fat man even more.

Every hit was harder than the last and every attempt to subdue him further added oil to the fire.

"**Sights like this one is why I hate Volantis"** The old Knight thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold. For a Westerosi, slavery had always been hard to fathom as the practice had died out ever since the Andals came. He had never been a religious man but he was grateful for some of the beliefs the Andals and their Faith of the Seven had brought to Westeros.

"**I shouldn't get involved."** Arthur thought to himself. Slavery was vital in Volantis, protected by it's ancient laws. Coming between a man and his slave was a crime. And he and Jon were already being watched by one of the Triarch's. They made a mess of it when Jon got involved in a tavern brawl when Jon beat a local ruffian in a game of cyvasse. Further incident would spell serious trouble for them.

The fat man grabbed the girl from her hair and started dragging her…along the dusty pavement. He paid attention to keep her face close to the ground so that her head would hit and graze the stones and pebbles in the pavement.

"**Don't get involved."** Arthur cautioned himself as his hand started twitching towards his sword.

"You are worth less than the 5 honors* I spent on you, you filthy useless animal!" The fat man yelled and spat on the girl's face.

"**This is not Westeros. It's the way things are here. Nothing you can change.."** Arthur tried to comfort himself as he clenched his teeth.

"I will mark you for this. So you can remember." The fat man grabbed the satchel of one of his guards and pulled out a knife from within.

"**You would be putting Jon at risk."** Arthur used his last resort in reasoning with himself.

The fat man drew closer and closer to the girl. The male slave attempted to jump in between them but the fat man's guard pulled him away. The fat man was spewing spit and had veins poppping from both his temples.

"Whenever you look at the mirror girl! You shall see your failure! You shall wear that symbol of your shame until the day you die!" The fat man grabbed her hair again and placed the knife on her cheek.

"This is what you get…" The fat man spoke silently and the knife started to draw blood

"NO!" The male slave yelled in hopeless agony

"**Seven hells!."** Dayne thought to himself and lunged forward but something else had moved past and reached the fat man before he did.

"What the?!" The fat man exclaimed as someone grabbed his wrist.

Dayne was too caught up in the moment to realize it but a sense of relief came when he realized it was his prince.

"That is not very nice." Jon spoke softly, with sarcasm in his voice apparent.

"How dare you?! This is my slave!" The fat man yelled and tried to wrestle his hand away from Jon but Jon's hold on his arm only grew tighter until the fat man hissed in pain and dropped the knife.

At that same moment, the fat man's guard attempted to lunge but Arthur stepped forward and smacked his nose with the hilt of his greatsword,Dawn.

"Relax. Don't try anything funny" Arthur cautioned him. If possible, he would avoid doing more damage then necessary since this man was a slave also and Arthur was damn sure anyone wouldn't be serving that piece of filth willingly. Jon looked at their situation before turning back to the fat man.

"My friend… The way I see it, you have 2 choices." Jon spoke with no hesitation.

"We either kill you and let these slaves go. Or we don't kill you and you let them go yourself." Jon explained.

"You fool! It doesn't work like that! They are branded. They can never leave Volantis when they have the slave mark on them. Not without a master! If I let them go, someone else will just claim them. Free merchandise it would be. You'd be just giving them to someone else." The fat man retorted, with a sense of victory.

"Then we'll claim them. Tell your guard to bring paper and a quill from your cart!" Arthur ordered.

Figuring out their intent, the fat man was agitated almost instantly.

"Do not dare, you!-" The fat man was cut short by Jon ,who chopped him in the throat. The fat man staggered behind while trying to catch his breath.

"Now." Jon demanded of the slave.

The long and brutish guard ran to the cart and started searching for the items.

"You will regret this. What you're doing is theft. In Old Volantis…that is a grave crime." The fat man claimed. His tone resembled both a threat and an offer.

"What are you talking about, dear friend? You sold these slaves to us, remember? At least…on paper." Jon mused. He was enjoying tormenting the fat bastard.

The guard brought the paper and quill and the fat man was forced to write a sales agreement on the two slaves. The fat man did as commanded, however begrudgingly. He wrote a sales paper for the two slaves. Before he signed it however ,Dayne stopped him for a moment.

"Hello friend. What is _your_ name?" Arthur asked the guard.

"What?! He's not part of the deal!" The fat man yelled. The other were one thing but his guard was another. A rare breed he was. A Norvoshi slave was hard to come by.

Jon punched him in the gut as a warning.

"Mashaar is my name." The Norvoshi slave answered, shocked about what was happening

"Add it." Dayne commanded and the fat man obeyed.

"Alright,you can go." Jon freed him and pushed him towards the Street. The fat man stumbled for a while before managing to balance himself.

He turned back to look at the men who had stolen his property from him. His expression suggested both anger and desparation. After a while of slow walking, the fat man disappeared from their sight as he reached the main street .

After he was gone, Arthur and Jon turned to the slaves they just freed.

"We are headed to Norvos but first we will have to sail to Braavos. Since there's no slavery in Braavos you can be safe there and start a life."Arthur smiled towards the end of his sentence.

"Y-You would free us?" The girl asked, with disbelief.

"No we wouldn't." Jon answered swiftly.

A smile parted from the girl's lips. A bittersweet one. She regretted believing that they would.

"We can't because you are already free. You can do whatever you desire." Jon smiled.

All three of the slaves were filled with an array of emotions. Happiness and confusion were the strongest.

"But it seems like Volantis or any other slave city is a danger to you as long as you are in them." Arthur explained.

"So you are welcome to join us on our sea voyage to Braavos. We'll sail there together and after that we'll part ways." Arthur offered.

The three slaves looked at each other and then back towards them.

"We'd be honored to." Mashaar answered.

* * *

_**SOMEWHERE ON THE NARROW SEA/A WEEK LATER**_

"Master Jon." The door was knocked.

"Come in." Jon answered and straightened himself up and turned towards the dark skinned girl who was a lot less skinny compared to last week. Even her skin was different and some color had reached her cheeks. She was a lot livelier.

She came in and bowed slightly, carrying a bowl of soup.

"I told you not to call me Master. Jon is fine." Jon reminded her.

"I-I'm sorry, J-Jon.." She was awkward about it, that's for sure. Couldn't blame her. And not just because she was a slave but because he was similar For the past 2 years, he hadn't been to a place that could have shy girls. He realized he was out of touch in interacting with people. In fact it was so bad for a while...Almost anything he met or saw, he either ignored or he fought. The months where they were separated with Arthur were the toughest. Days would go on and on without him uttering a word.

"Uhm…So.. How have you been,Niara?" Jon asked.

"I-I'm good. Everyone aboard has been very kind to me." Niara sounded sincere.

"I'm glad." Jon smiled.

She smiled as well but really seemed like she couldn't move the conversation forward, given her limited social interactions.

Jon decided to take the burden of initiating the conversation to make it easier on her.

"So…Mashaar was a bodyguard and Khelos poured his wine." Jon remarked.

"What did you do?" Jon asked casually. Only after seeing her pause for few seconds did he realize he might have made a mistake in asking such a question.

"I am so sorry. That might have been a painful question that brings up bad memories. Forgive my insolence." Jon quickly recovered but Niara only smiled in response.

"No, it's not because of pain or tragedy that I stumbled. I-It's just that my friends all had such difficult tasks for them and I was a rare case…In which I mean that I loved doing my tasks." Niara explained. Jon could feel that she was indeed uncomfortable saying this.

But it had piqued his interest.

"What tasks?" Jon asked, his curiosity apparent in his voice and smile.

"I managed the library and the ravens. I got to read many books since he never visited the library and I spent almost all my time there." Niara explained, her mood changed completely.

She was enthusiasticly talking about something for the first time in front of Jon. It was obvious that she really loved those books.

"In the journals I read that were at the library, it said that the Master's father had built that library and that he was a well-learned man. He also sounded kind, as opposed to his son." Niara remarked with a hint of resentment in her voice.

"So his father was a known man?" Jon asked, seeing her normalize was more interesting to him than the conversation.

"Yes,very much. They were actually one of the richest families in Volantis until the young master gambled everything away in games." Niara explained.

She continued before Jon could muster a word.

"The only reason he managed to barely survive was because his father had built a great ravenry on the top of their mansion and trained ravens to go all over the continent. Some of them, even further. The Triarchs enlists him and uses his ravens from time to time." She added.

Jon's heart skipped a beat.

"Even further? Do you mean like….Westeros?" He asked.

"Yes, we even received ravens from the Citadel from time to time." Niara answered.

Jon gulped. He felt as if his entire throat was being crushed as he did. Never has there been a question that he wanted answered so much while fearing it's answer.

"U-Uhm…So you managed the ravenry. You must have s-seen the insides some of the messages?" Jon asked.

"Almost all of them. Except the ones that the master warned me are confidential." Niara answered nonchalantly.

Jon's heart started thumping faster.

But he couldn't bring himself to say another word. He couldn't ask it because he was so afraid of what she might tell him. The past he had left behind. The family he thought was his, but wasn't. The lie of a life that he lived without ever suspecting the truth. His brother Bran who had fell from a tower, who Jon didn't see recover before he left. His brother Robb, who was also his best friend and rival. His beloved sister Arya, who never made him feel like a bastard or an outsider. And Sansa…who never acted like she cared about Jon . Only after not seeing her for so long did Jon realize that he wanted her attention. He always thought he disliked her because she disliked him. He realized too late that he disliked her because he wanted her to accept him and she did not.

And his father…Lord Eddard Stark. The man who kept a secret so big that it could plunge an entire kingdom into chaos.

Jon must have stayed silent for too long that Niara felt the need to ask.

"Do you want to know about Westeros?" Niara asked delicately.

**Thump.**


End file.
